The present invention relates to a fluid collection system, and in particular to a vacuum collection system.
Recently the cost of hospital services has sustained substantial inflationary increases. The rise in hospital costs can be attributed to increase in the cost per square foot of hospital space and rising labor costs.
It is very common in the care of hospital patients that some manner or type of fluid drain or collection system will be employed. Generally such collection systems are used to collect body fluids which would be detrimental to the patient if not removed. To insure such collection the collection is made by the use of a vacuum system. The fluids being withdrawn are desirably collected for examination, analysis or for volumetric measurement which can be used as determinates of the condition of the patient.
Presently vacuum collection is generally carried out in glass containers which are stored and reused. This presents several potential problems, principal among which are breakage and high cost. Since these collection containers are employed in a vacuum system, they must have sufficient rigidity to avoid collapsing the container and more importantly to provide the absolute integrity needed for the system. To achieve the requisite degree of rigid strength and observability, it is the general practice to employ glass containers, e.g., Pyrex or other high temperature glass. Pyrex containers provide the vacuum integrity and dependability required and also the clear or translucent container for visual observation of the specimen being collected.
Since the fluid collection system must usually operate for substantial periods with only periodic examination, the container must be of a sufficiently large volume to assure that there will be an adequate collection space for the specimen. Generally gallon containers are employed, regardless of the expected size of the specimen. Very frequently gallon containers are employed in series if larger volumes are anticipated or as a safety measure. The problem presented is one of storage space. Gallon containers, e.g., usually round bottles or jugs, can occupy a substantial amount of the area allotted for storage within a hospital or clinic.
A second disadvantage of the usual type of container employed is the trouble and expense of clean-up and sterilization. Because of the requisite strength of the containers, their manner of construction or manufacture is substantial and hence expensive. Thus it is necessary to reuse the containers in order to obtain an adequate utilization as based on the cost. Furthermore, disposal of the present containers, because of their size and nature, could present problems. Generally recycle or reuse is a very admirable characteristic of an article, however, in the hospital environment, the amount of labor necessary to recycle the containers far offsets in money and rising hospital costs the recycle value. The fragile nature of glass is also a problem in shipment, handling and use.
It is an object of this invention to provide a collection system which will require less storage space, yet provide the same collection capacity as prior systems. It is a further object of this invention to provide a collection system which inherently will be less costly to manufacture and will afford the option of disposable use.
It is another object of this invention to provide a collection system with an expandable capacity. It is another object of the present invention to provide a means to locate the collection system at a convenient level for visual examination of the contents thereof.
These and other objects will be eminently clear from the following discussion of the invention and descriptions of the drawings and embodiments thereof.